1952-59 Ford Speedway wiring and turn signals

I am trying and almost there, to install a speedway 22 circuit wiring harness and integrate it with the original column and signal switch in my 56 mainline. I can get signals to all work correctly and brake light to come on, but if I turn the lights on, it all goes to hell and nothing works correctly at the rear of the car. Has anyone done anything similar or have a suggestion? I have an original wiring diagram but unfortunately in my car there are three solid green wires instead of green, green/white, and green/orange.

 

A little more detail about what goes wrong with the headlights on would help. A common mistake is wiring the brightest (brake light side) side of the bulb to the running lights, and vice versa.

 

Too bad you didn't use the Rebel Wire harness since there is HUGE thread on that and the service after the sale is great,anyway lets see if we can help. The problem with all these aftermarket universal harnesses is they are "GM Friendly" not Ford the usual culprit is the way the headlight switch is wired. The GM switches have the power leads split to two different circuits, Ford switches only have one power lead. Click on this from our "Sticky FAQ" https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/faq-sticky.897329/page-5 and scroll down to posts #131-133 There in this link it shows a picture of the correctly wired Ford switch showing the two into one jumper wiring. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ne-daily-driver.1027219/page-18#post-12641103

 

Sounds like a bad Headlight Switch to me.
Remove the switch for testing to see if it's the switch or something downstream in the wiring.....and maybe address your 3-of-a-kind wiring woes while you're at it.

 

so shame on me for not researching wiring harnesses before I bought this, but, the headlight switch is new and is a GM style, plugs into the harness. I think the culprit is in the OEM turn signal switch. But heres more detail. the kit has the following wires going to the rear of the car. left signal, right signal, running lights. I have split the running lights off to the license plate bulb and the right rear running lights.. I'm able to get all signals to function correctly and the brake lights to function correctly, however once I turn the lights on, both fillaments in the rear light up as if the brake pedal has been applied. I'm thinking I may try using the factory junction block from the column. I think and others have mentioned that current needs to be split off, particularly if you are using a OEM style headlight switch.

 

without seeing it first hand I would make sure you have a good ground both front and rear.you are looking at the rear but the front is also part of the circuit.

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but ALMOST all are GM based. Ron Francis kits for Fords are not.

 

yeah, i'm about to loose my mind and rip it all out. I can now get all the signals and brake lights to function correctly but if you press the brake and turn on the signal you loose it all. it pops the flasher, then if you press the brake after that you only get the left rear brake light. If i pull the headlight switch out, both rear bulb filaments light up.

 

Chris, from reading your notes I think you have a poor ground somewhere, rusty or loose, etc. The give away when you say you loose it all.

 

So, as it turns out, my buddy had flipped the wires at the tail lights and in fact the signal/ brake feed should be the short filament in the bulb. Once I got that corrected it all works beautifully now. It must have been back feeding. Thanks for the help though guys

 

Glad you got it figured out!! Looks like 40cpe nailed it on the first reply.

 

Now that you got that figured out, could you give a quick review of the Speedway wiring harness? I'm considering the 12 circuit over the 22 circuit one